At Original Source we care about where all our ingredients come from.
That is why we source our intense natural fragrances with people and nature in mind. We’ve found that working with the right people means that responsible sourcing results in great, quality fragrances that enrich people’s lives, from local farmers, to perfumers, manufacturers, marketers and you, our consumers.
Take mint for example. We’ve used mint since we began in 1996. Mint is an amazing natural essential oil that delivers a cooling menthol sensation. Or as we like to call it, the ultimate tingle factor. So let’s have a look at where our mint comes from.
Grown in India
We source our mint from India, in a region known as the India Mint Belt, just south of the Himalayas.
The Peppermint oil we use in our Mint Shower gel comes from a species of mint plant called Mentha Arvensis, an especially potent type of mint. We specially choose this type of mint because of its distinctive cooling, tingly effect we all love.
Our distributor partners in the region work directly with individual farmers who grow the mint plants on small fields, typically less than 2 acres. They’ve been farming mint on this land for generations so have accumulated a wealth of expertise.
The farmers work hard to employ good farming practices with the support of the INDGAP (India Good Agriculture Practices) and other NGOs.
Our partners in the region provide education and training to the next generation of farmers to safeguard the interest of the Mint Community of India.
Planted
The Mentha Arvensis crop is planted from January to April and then harvested in May through to the end of June. It is not grown using seeds but instead the farmers use a skilled practice called Root-Grafting.
Root-grafting is a clever little trick they use to take part of the roots from the previous year’s crop, to plant new ones.
To ensure the fertility of the crop is maintained, crop rotation is used which helps increase the soils fertility and the crop yield.
Fed & Watered
It is important the plants are watered and fed throughout their growth. Drip irrigation is used to ensure the plants are watered carefully to aid nutrient uptake and also makes the water usage very efficient.
Hand picked – Hand cut above root
The mint oil itself comes from the leaves which are cut by hand just above the root to ensure minimal damage. Their expert knowledge of the plants allows them to select the plants with the best oil first for our natural mint oil. In fact, it takes 7,927 leaves to make enough essential oil to ensure each Original Source Mint Shower packs the tingle we require.
Dried
Once picked, the leaves are dried in the open air, then weighed in the fields before being transported to the distillery. We feel cold just imagining the smell in the fields!
Steam Distilled
Right, now for the clever science bit that turns mint leaves into the most cooling, tingly shower gel on the planet! It is at the distillery that the dried leaves become the essential oil which makes its way into our shower gel. The freshly dried mint leaves are placed in a tank and treated with pressurised steam, allowing the botanical materials of the mint leaves to rise as steam. The steam that comes out of the tank is then passed through a cold water condenser where the vaporised botanical materials are cooled into an essential oil. The mint oil and water from the condenser are collected in a drum. Since the water from the condenser and oil have different densities, the mint oil floats on the surface and is skimmed off to be collected.
MANE + © photographer Gérad Uféras
Bottled
Once the mint essential oil arrives at our specialist production facility our expert perfumers examine it to make sure it smells as fresh and invigorating now as it did when it left India. Then added to our shower gel to capture our unique tingle!
Tingly Mint & Tea Tree Shower
Now you know all there is to know about what goes into our Mint & Tea Tree shower gel to make it the tinglist of all – take a look for yourself!
